Shopping channel Hochanda is having its hours cut on Freeview, in a temporary move expected to last around six weeks.
The channel has until now supplied a strand of programming on Freeview channel 39, running from 6am to 9pm, as part of The Store, a teleshopping channel licensed by Ofcom to ITV.

From Wednesday 30th March, the channel's hours will be cut to four hours every night, from midnight to 4am. The change is linked to changes confirmed by ITV last Friday, which is making changes to children's channel CITV and ITV3+1 on Freeview, which involves moving them to the bandwidth that The Store operates on - viewers will need to retune to continue watching these ITV services.

ITV3+1's broadcast hours are being cut to finish at midnight, freeing up bandwidth for The Store and Hochanda to operate overnight.

Hochanda says the issue is due to a "gap" in their Freeview contract, and have told viewers on social media that normal service will resume on 16th May, when the channel expects to resume its current 6am - 9pm timeslot. Despite this, many of the channel's followers on Facebook have expressed their dissatisfaction of the changes, with a whole string of comments from annoyed viewers.

Hochanda's broadcasts via Sky and Freesat as well as simulcasts on some local TV channels remain unaffected. The channel also offers a live stream via its website.